Interesting recipe. I'm trying it this weekend, since the HERMS (modeled after yours The_Pol, but without the fancy-pants control panel) is up and running beautifully.

Question about adding the yeast nutrient to the secondary -- what type of nutrient? I use fermax every batch, but I add it to the boil (per instructions.) Should there be concerns re: contamination from adding it to the secondary? Or would it be advisable to briefly heat the corn sugar and nutrients in a small volume of water to sterilize, then add to the secondary?

Hm. After two weeks in primary, it's stopped at 1.013 from 1.072, an apparent attenuation of 81%. I had some issues with my mash - unbeknownst to me, my HLT/heat exchange tank stirrer stalled midway through the mash, and my ramping speed got all f'd up, so I don't think I got as fermentable a mash as I was hoping for. I'm a little gunshy about adding the corn sugar to the 2ndary, because I don't want to end up with a really sweet beer on my hands.

I may just leave it as is. Any thoughts?

Edit:
Gah! I just tasted my gravity sample, and the phenol/band-aid taste is strong enough to knock me over. How disappointing.

Since I don't have any means of slowly ramping the mash temp, what's the next best thing? Quadrupole decoction??? 100-120-145-153-170?

Kind of joking there, but any other way of keeping the beer dry without a HERMS?

A single-infusion mash at 147-149° for 90 minutes will encourage a more fermentable wort. Simple sugar will encourage dry it out as will a hefty starter, good aeration and warm fermentation temperatures.

I dont have the means to make this recipe so instead I am going to do the golden strong ale recipe from Jamil's book. It's said that it comes out close to a duvel. I will report back when it's all done.

I dont have the means to make this recipe so instead I am going to do the golden strong ale recipe from Jamil's book. It's said that it comes out close to a duvel. I will report back when it's all done.

I suspect you'll be thrilled with that recipe; definitely use the yeast recommended (WLP570). I have a BGSA in primary right now using that yeast and it's just awesome. Complex esters and phenols, and it'll finish quite dry with the simple sugar and low mash temp.